Bobbin support



Filed June 4, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l h M mlllllllnl is filluul-ugzlll-f 3 INVENTOR. y BY VJTLa/m/ W I 6 ATTORNEY.

Aug. 24, 1937. J. v. MANN 2,091,181

BOBB IN SUPPORT Filed June 4, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A 7 our: fii my; 39 2! l lwil 1N VENTOR.

BY dofzn/ L ma/zn/ ATTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 24, 19317 UNITED STATES BOBBIN SUPPORT John V. Mann, Elmira, Textile Devices, Inc., tion of New York N. Y., assignor to Eclipse Elmira, N. Y., a corpora- Application June 4, 1935, Serial No. 24,887

10 Claims.

The present invention relates to bobbin supports and more particularly to anti-friction holders for pendulously supporting bobbins in spinning or roving frames or the like.

Various forms of antifriction bobbin holders are commercially available which are satisfactory in operation and provide many advantages over the conventional skewer mounting, but these commercial bobbin holders are individually adapted for use only throughout a restricted range of sizes of bobbins, and are somewhat expensive to manufacture.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel anti-friction bobbin support which is universal in application and fits without structural change practically all commercial forms and sizes of bobbins.

It is another object to provide such a device which supports the bobbin pendulously, and is arranged to provide for mounting and withdrawing the bobbin by means of a moderate amount of force applied longitudinally to the bobbin.

It is a further object to provide such a device which is simple and economical in construction.

It is another object to provide such a device which provides a limited amount of free universal movement of the bobbin to facilitate mounting and doffing the bobbin.

It is another object to provide such a device which may incorporate means for introducing a controllable amount of friction in the bearing.

It is a further object to provide such a device which is arranged to automatically center the bobbin on its axis of rotation and aline the axis of the bobbin with the center of the supporting bearing.

It is another object to provide such a device in which the centering and alining means is also operative when the bobbin. is withdrawn, to retain the holder in suitable condition for convenient replacement of the bobbin thereon.

Further objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the acompanying drawings in which;

Fig. 1 is a side view partly in section of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view partly in section on a reduced scale showing a bobbin mounted on the holder;

Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail of the expansible holding memsa Fig. 5 is a side view partly in section of a second embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 6 is a substantially vertical sectional view on a reduced scale of the device shown in Fig. 5 with a bobbin mounted thereon, the view being taken at right angles from Fig. 5.

Referring first to Fig. 1 of the drawings, there is illustrated a fragment of a creel board I having an opening 2 traversed by a bolt 3 retained by a nut 4. The lower end of the bolt 3 is provided with a substantially spherical bearing head 5 adapted to cooperate with a series of anti-friction balls 6.

The bearing balls 6 are retained in an annular bearing race I carried by a rotatable casing formed by a sleeve 8 and a closure member 9. The race I and the casing members 8 and 9 are maintained as a rigid unit in a suitable manner such as by spinning over a lip H on the lower edge of the member 8 to engage the closure member 9.

A dust cap I2 is preferably employed to protect the opening between the ball race I and the bolt 3, this dust cap being rigidly connected to the creel board as by means of a shoulder [3 on the bolt which clamps the dust cap against a washer 14 on the lower side of the creel board.

According to the present invention, a holding member in the form of a generally U-shaped strip 15 of resilient material is provided for holding a bobbin beneath the member 9. For this purpose, the holding member I5 is riveted at its central portion to the member 9 as indicated at E6, and the arms I! and I8 are bowed or bulged outwardly intermediate their length.

Referring to Fig. 2, there is illustrated a portion of an ordinary commercial type of bobbin l9 having an axial opening 20. When the bobbin I9 is thrust on the holder as here shown, the bowed portions of the resilient arms H and i8 frictionally engage within the bore 28 of the bobbin and resist removal thereof. The lower ends of the arms I1 and I8 are inclined inwardly in order to facilitate entry into the opening of the bobbin.

A tapered thimble 2| is loosely mounted on the arms I! and I8 and is formed to partly enter the opening 20 in the bobbin Hi When the bobbin is pushed on the holder. The internal bore of the thimble 2! is arranged to fit loosely the upper portion of the holding member I5 as best shown ble 2! has a further function in that it serves to prevent the expansion of the arms II and i3 when the bobbin is withdrawn therefrom. For this purpose, the thimble is adapted to slide down the holder as the bobbin is removed until it engages the bowed portions of the arms ll, !8 and thereby holds them in retracted position. In order to prevent the thimble from sliding upwardly under the expansive force of the arms i7, 18, these arms are tapered as best shown in Fig. 4 so as to cause the thimble to bind frictionally thereon and remain where positioned by the removal of the bobbin until a bobbin is again thrust upon the holder, whereupon the thimble is raised to its centering position as illustrated in Fig. 2. The bowed portions of the arms II, it are preferably rounded as shown at 22 in order to reduce wear on the bore of the bobbin.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, the bearings 25 are retained in a stationary race member 26 which is fixed to the creel board 21 by means of a bolt 28 threaded through a plate 29 riveted as shown at 3| to the race. A substantially spherical rotatable bearing member 32 rests on the bearings 26 and carries by means of a rivet 33 a resilient split ring 34, the ends of which bear in notches 35 and 36 in arms 3? and 38 which are pivoted together at 39 to form a bobbin holding member indicated generally at All.

Split ring 34 supports the arms 31, 38 from the bearing member 32 and also tends to cause them to expand, such expansion being limited by suitable means such as an adjusting screw 4| The arms 38 and 31 are bowed outwardly as at .2 and 33 to engage the bore 26 of a bobbin l9 as illustrated in Fig. 6, and a centering cone member 44 is mounted on the pivot 39 for the arms as best seen in Fig. 6, in order to center and aline the bobbin on the holder.

In some installations of this character, it is desirable to provide a certain amount of frictional drag to prevent overrunning of the bobbin. As here shown, this is accomplished by means of a disc 45 bearing frictionally on the rotatable bearing member 32 and prevented from rotation by means of lugs 46 (Fig. 6) extending into slots in the fixed race member 26.

In the operation of this device, it will be readily apparent that the bobbins may be applied and removed from the holders simply by thrusting them on or drawing them off against the frictional efiect of the expanding arms l'l, E8 or 37, 38, sufiicient universal motion being provided by the spherical shape of the bearing members 5 or 32 to facilitate this operation.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, the adjusting screw All is so positicned as to limit the expansion of the ends of the arms 31, 38 so as to facilitate their entry into the bore 20 of the bobbin. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, this function is automatically performed by the thimble 2! which holds the arms II, 18 in their contracted position corresponding to the bore of the bobbin which is used thereon.

Although certain structure has been illustrated and described in detail, it will be understood that other embodiments are possible and that various changes may be made in the proportions and design of the parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. In a bobbin support a holding member having resiliency expansible arms, means for pendulously and rotatably mounting said holding mem ber, and a thimble embracing said arms to limit their expansion, but movable to a position to release said arms by the application of a bobbin to said holding member.

2. In a bobbin support a holding member having resiliently expansible arms, means for pendulously and rotatably mounting said holding member with freedom for limited universal movement, and a thimble embracing said arms to limit their expansion but adapted to be raised to a position to release said arms by thrusting a bobbin on said holding member.

3. In a bobbin support a holding member having resiliently expansible arms, means for pendulously and rotatably mounting said holding member, said arms being curved so as to bow outwardly in their intermediate portions, and a thimble embracing said arms adjacent the bowed portions thereof to limit the expansion of the arms, said thimble being slidable upwardly to permit the arms to expand.

4. In a bobbin support a holding member having resiliently expansible arms, means for pendulously and rotatably mounting said holding member, said arms being curved so as to bow outwardly in their intermediate portions, and a thimble embracing said arms adjacent the bowed portions thereof to limit the expansion of the arms, said thimble being slidable upwardly to permit the arms to expand, said arms being so curved and tapered that the thimble is frictionally retained in any position to which it falls by reason of the compression of said arms.

5. In combination with a bobbin having an axial opening therein, a holder therefor having expansible arms, means for pendulously and rotatably mounting said holder, said arms being curved so as to bow outwardly in their intermediate portions and frictionally engage in said opening, and means for limiting the expansion of said arms to facilitate their initial entry into said opening, said means being adjustable to adapt the holder for use with bobbins having various sizes of openings.

6. In combination with a bobbin having an axial opening therein, a holder therefor having expansible arms arranged to enter and frictionally engage in said opening, and a tapered thimble loosely mounted on the holder adapted to partially enter the opening in the bobbin and centralize the bobbin on the holder, said thimble being arranged to automatically engage said arms when the bobbin is withdrawn therefrom, and

hold the arms in contracted position for re-entry into the opening of the bobbin.

7. In combination with a bobbin having an axial opening therein, a holder therefor including expansible arms adapted to enter and frictionally engage within the opening, and means for pendulously and rotatably supporting said arms, a thimble loosely surrounding the upper portions of said arms and arranged to partly enter said opening to center the upper end of the bobbin on the holder, said thimble being arranged to drop down on the arms and hold them collapsed when the bobbin is withdrawn from the holder.

8. In combination with a bobbin having an axial opening therein, a holder therefor including outwardly bowed expansible arms adapted to enter and frictionally engage within the opening, and means for pendulously and rotatably supporting said arms, a thimble loosely surroundiiig the upper portions of said arms and arranged to partly enter said opening to center the upper end of the bobbin on the holder, said thimble being arranged to drop down on the arms and hold them collapsed when the bobbin is withdrawn from the holder, said arms being so longitudinally tapered as to frictionally retain the thimble in its holding position.

9. In combination with a hollow bobbin for spinning frames or the like, a pendulous support therefor including a swivel bearing and gripping means for the bobbin suspended therefrom including a U-shaped spring having its central portion fixed to said bearing and having tapered bowed arms adapted to enter the bobbin and expand into gripping engagement therewith, and a thimble mounted on and embracing the arms of the spring and limiting the expansion thereof.

10. In combination with a hollow bobbin for spinning frames or the like, a pendulous support therefor including a swivel bearing and gripping means for the bobbin suspended therefrom including a U-shaped spring having its central portion fixed to said bearing and having tapered bowed arms adapted to enter the bobbin and expand into gripping engagement therewith, and a thimble mounted on and embracing the arms of the spring and limiting the expansion thereof, the arms of said spring'being so formed and tapered that the thimble, upon removal of the bobbin, automatically moves into and remains in position to retain the spring suitably compressed to enter a similar bobbin.

JOHN V. MANN. 

